


Realisations

by WhoStarLocked



Series: All The Unknown Faces [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Funny, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mild Blood, POV Bucky Barnes, Short One Shot, based on a prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 03:40:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15765858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoStarLocked/pseuds/WhoStarLocked
Summary: Title says it all, really. Based on a prompt from a birthday boy (You know who you are). I hope you like it!Bucky realises something. And maybe decides to do something about it.Prompt: "Oh, don't worry, that's not my blood." / "That doesn't fill me with confidence."





	Realisations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GeorgeCantWrite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeCantWrite/gifts).



> So I've posted this as a part of All the Unknown Faces series, but I'd like to reiterate that after the first part, they're in no particular order. I'll probably end up writing more that takes place before Realisations does. Just as a heads up.

He’s Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier, aka world renowned assassin, aka Steve Rogers’ best friend – it’s a given that he doesn’t scare easily. But he’s been finding himself scared quite easily of late:

That time last month when the whole team got back from a mission late because Clint had nearly been eaten by an alien slime-dog-lion-jelly-thing.

(Nat says he has a theme.)

And that time a couple of weeks ago when Steve had come back weary and red-eyed and sat down heavily next to Bucky and simply said “We lost Hawkeye.”, only to have the archer in question arrive at the tower four hours later, bitching about how nobody helped him out of the river and they didn’t even leave him transport.

(Bucky insists he does not have a theme. At _all_. He would be equally scared if it were anyone else.)

And then because of his river-ducking and consequent long walk home in a New York December, Clint got a cold – holy shit, Clint did not deal well with illness – and somehow he managed to get so ill that he almost needed to go to hospital.

(Okay, so there _may_ be a theme.)

And then this, today. Clint – fully recovered, thank all the gods – had been on a mission for the past three days, and had sauntered in, to Bucky’s absolute horror, covered in blood.

And Bucky means covered.

He feels his jaw drop open as Clint continues meandering towards the communal kitchen. The archer flashes him a dazzling grin and Bucky absolutely definitely 100% _does not_ drop his coffee cup.  Or work his jaw soundlessly. He does not. Nu-uh.

“Heh, good fish impression, I love it!” Clint jokes as he picks up a pizza menu from on top of the microwave.

Thankfully, that breaks Bucky’s state of shock and he whirls round after the archer and storms into the kitchen behind him.

“What the fucking hell, Barton? What the hell happened? What was your mission? Where are you injured? You need to be in hospital, not ordering pizza, no, _put that down_!” Bucky babbles, slapping Clint’s hand so hard he drops the phone receiver.

“Owww!” Clint whines at him, hurtful expression firmly in place.

“Don’t give me puppy eyes, damn it, give me explanations!” Bucky hissed. He’d unwittingly grabbed on to both Clint’s shoulders, probably intent on trying to shake sense into this disaster of a human, and now he had blood all over both his hands, too.

Clint frowns for a moment; casts a glance down at himself.

“Oh, don’t worry.” He chuckles, giving Bucky another distractingly white smile. “This isn’t my blood.”  

“That doesn’t fill me with confidence.” Bucky replies instantly.

Clint sighs. “My mission fucked up a little bit.”

Bucky waits.

“The guy sells pig blood tofu. Which I did not know was a thing. Anyway, so they told me he was in this warehouse, and that they needed him captured, except, apparently the game was up, because he was expecting me.  So he’s been in this warehouse slaughtering pigs and he’s got their blood in this massive vat, and well…”

Clint pauses, looks down at himself a second time. Sighs.

“Long story short, we ended up taking a dip.”

Silence.

Clint looks to the floor.

More silence.

Bucky doesn’t know whether he wants to laugh at the story or cry with relief.

It’s still silent.

He thinks he’s probably not quite processed that story yet.

“So it’s pig blood.”

_There we are, brain, all caught up._

“Yeah, it’s pig blood.”  Clint answers.

Bucky lets go of his shoulders.

Takes a step back.

“Right, cool. You know, maybe you should let JARVIS order you a pizza while you shower.”

Clint’s head jerks up. “Right. Yeah, solid plan.”  He looks… dejected?

 _Oh fuck_ , Bucky realises suddenly that Nat is right. There is totally a theme. An arrow-hoarding, competent badass nerd theme.

Before he can really process these thoughts, he’s leaned forwards and captured Clint’s lips with his own, and there’s no resistance and no pushing away.

When they break apart, Clint looks shocked. Bucky tries to give him a confident smile, but before he can quite pull off the expression, his taste buds remind him of their purpose.

“Ewww, pig blood.” He mutters with a grimace. _Way to ruin a moment, Barnes,_ he thinks.

Or at least he does until Clint starts laughing. Then he’s laughing too and there’s no time for thinking of anything except how… _happy_ , Clint looks when he’s like this. The ways his eyes are lit up, the way his grin is splitting his face, the way he’s been laughing so long he must be in pain…

Bucky realises with sudden clarity that this is his perfect. And the best part, Clint’s looking back at him like Bucky’s his perfect too.

Bucky huffs a laugh as he drags his gaze off Clint.

“I’d kiss you again, but…” He trails off. Clint giggles.

“I got it, terminator. You order the pizza, I’ll shower.”  As he moves past Bucky to leave, Bucky grabs his wrist. “Orrrrrrr, maybe I got that wrong?”

“So very wrong.”

“Oh?” Clint smirks.

“JARVIS is gonna order the pizza, and we’re gonna shower.”

“Oh?” He says again, but he’s making no move to pull away from Bucky.

“I need to shower too. Might as well both get to use hot water.”

“Is that right?” Clint grins slyly.

Bucky grins playfully. “Damn, there’s no getting stuff past you, is there?”  He steps back with an overly dramatic sigh. “Alas, I have an ulterior motive.”

Clint sidles closer to him, wraps an arm round his waist.

“And what might that be?” He practically purrs into Bucky’s neck. A warm shiver runs down Bucky’s spine.  Bucky tilts his head so that his lips brush against Clint’s ear, then he whispers.

“Gotta make sure you get all this outta your hair.”

Bucky bolts for the elevator just as Clint gives an outraged yell and goes to smack him, and Clint chases him all the way to the bathroom.


End file.
